these walls I built (they're coming down)
by ChocolateWonder
Summary: Four chance encounters in the Prefects' Bathroom lead to the beginnings of love. Rated T for slight swearing.


**Written for…**

 **Hogwarts**

 **Assignment 3 (Religious Education):** _ **Task-**_ _Write about someone who lives by moral code and an event which places them in a predicament._

 **Love in Motion-** _ **Next Gen:**_ _ **RoseScorpius**_

 **Treasure Hunt:** _ **(location) Prefects' Bathroom**_

 **Piñata** **Challenge:** _ **Medium- Humor**_

 _ **Word Count: 1157**_

* * *

Rose liked to live by the rules.

She loved rules and rules loved her. They brought a sense of orderliness.

Of course, no one agreed with her.

"C'mon, Rosie!" begged James. "It'll be fun!"

Rose crossed her arms. "No," she said sternly. "Unlike you, I have a respectable reputation to maintain. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go disable the Dungbombs you've set up."

She could hear James swearing vehemently behind her as she exited the portrait hole and pursed her lips disapprovingly. Honestly, the vulgarity of her cousin was surely going to get him suspended.

As you can see, she followed the rules and abstained from disobedience. She was a model student, somewhat like her mother.

However, there were some students like James, who were on the other end of the spectrum.

Scorpius Malfoy practically worshipped James's rule-breaking, encouraging it at every opportunity and sometimes doing it himself. Therefore, he was public enemy number one, according to Rose.

Once again, everyone disagreed with her.

Girls swooned over his handsomeness, boys were envious of his Quidditch skills, and teachers were impressed by his schoolwork, which was complete and turned in, and returned with perfect marks.

Rose had held a vendetta against him since day one. She was a rule-follower, he was a rule-breaker, but her competition in everything she did. If she did something good, Scorpius did it better. This applied mostly to assignments, but occasionally on the Quidditch pitch. She labeled him a show-offend did not deign to speak to him.

Until one day, she completely lost her mind.

Rose was taking a bath in the Prefects' Bathroom—a privilege she had rightfully earned because her status as Prefect—and was washing out the mud in her hair when the door opened and Scorpius walked in.

And he was half-naked, with only a green towel to cover him.

Naturally, Rose screamed and ducked under the filthy water, too mortified to care that her hair was dirtying.

Scorpius had a similar reaction. He jumped back and uttered a short scream, clutching at his towel, the only thing protecting his dignity.

"Um, Rose, you can come out from there," Scorpius said loudly, his voice penetrating through the water and reaching Rose's ears.

Instead of fully emerging, Rose's azure eyes peeked out first before she deemed it safe for the rest of her head to surface.

Rose's face flushed as she took in the sight of _Scorpius Malfoy_ , her worst nightmare, standing in front of her with nothing but a towel. Girls would _kill_ to be in her position.

Scorpius's face, meanwhile, turned bright red as he registered the sight of _Rose Weasley_ , hair flattened and bare shoulders just barely visible. He suddenly felt self-conscious.

But for her, this was valuable ammunition. She could hold this above his head and use it to blackmail him into doing whatever she wanted.

But that was immoral. She couldn't do that; it would be violating Scorpius's privacy and besides, it was better to not have girls after her blood.

"Hey," Rose peeped, her eyes averted from his body.

"Hi," he squeaked out; it was extremely embarrassing for both of them.

"So, uh, I'm almost done with my bath," she said stupidly.

"That's, er, great. I'll just, um, wait in the other room."

Face redder than Rose's soggy hair, Scorpius retreated from the room into the dressing area.

"You perverted _idiot_ ," he said, disgusted with himself, "that was real smooth. What's she going to think of me now? She already has a negative opinion of me and now that's justified. I'll never get her to like me."

He slumped against the door, unaware of Rose doing the same, chastising herself under her breath.

"That was just _superb_ , Rose," she scolded herself, "simply _swell_. I was a complete and utter mess and he just had to walk in. I'm locking the door from now on."

Two teenagers, with their backs against the door, were lost in thought. One day, maybe they would realize their feelings for each other.

But not just yet. There was still more in store for them.

Like a second serendipitous bathroom encounter.

It was unintentional. Felicity, Ravenclaw's female Prefect, had told Scorpius when he'd asked that Rose was almost done taking a bath. He'd courteously waited for ten minutes, and assuming Rose was done, he'd undressed and entered again.

Only to find Rose with her hair in a towel bun and wrapped in a burgundy towel, lathering lotion onto her arms.

They froze and Scorpius gulped.

He watched as Rose stilled and her horrified eyes met his, the blue depths panicked. She proceeded to squeak and redden, before darting out of the room and abandoning her bottle of lotion.

Scorpius, his own face a ruby red, his heart thumping, and his hormones pleading with him to go find her and snog her senseless, he barely managed to keep himself rooted to the spot.

He sits down, his back against the closed door Rose fled through. He recalled her creamy skin and the many freckles spread out on her arms. He shut his eyes, groaning.

 _I'm fucked._

Meanwhile, Rose was shivering, the lotion on her arms still sticky. She's haunted by thoughts of the last time Scorpius had walked into the bathroom unannounced and caught her in the bathtub. This was simply a coincidence, she surmised.

Then why was she so affected?

The third meeting occurred in seventh year. Rose still abided by the rules, but she had loosened up a bit and was having more fun. She was not in love with Scorpius, as he was with her, but she was the Head Girl to his Head Boy, so she had to tolerate him. She found herself liking him as a good friend, and it wasn't until this meeting that she realized she fancied him.

This time, it was Rose who walked in on Scorpius—he was mostly submerged in water, but enough was exposed for Rose to have daydreams about him.

She dreamt about the smooth slope of his jaw, the damned crooked grin of his, and his toned muscles.

 _Shit._ She was one of his fangirls now.

Oh, she was screwed.

Rose discovered that she had an uncanny tendency to blush when he was in her proximity, even if he was out of sight. Every time, a blush graced her face.

Scorpius was mercifully oblivious to this, but had he known, he would've been delirious with happiness.

However, he couldn't help but notice an abrupt change in her voice when she spoke to him. It was no longer superior, but a stutter.

Again, had he known of her developing feelings, he would've died a happy man.

Finally, one spring morning, when they both walked into the Prefects' bathroom at the same time, neither repeated their previous actions.

Instead, Scorpius graciously offered to let her use the bathtub before him and waited in the other room, a soft smile on his attractive face.

 _Ah, love was a beautiful thing._


End file.
